THE PRESIDENT: Chief weapons inspector, Charles Duelfer, has now
issued a comprehensive report that confirms the earlier conclusion of
David Kay that Iraq did not have the weapons that our intelligence
believed were there.

The Duelfer report also raises important new information about
Saddam Hussein's defiance of the world and his intent and capability to
develop weapons. The Duelfer report showed that Saddam was
systematically gaming the system, using the U.N. oil-for-food program
to try to influence countries and companies in an effort to undermine
sanctions. He was doing so with the intent of restarting his weapons
program, once the world looked away.

Based on all the information we have today, I believe we were right
to take action, and America is safer today with Saddam Hussein in
prison. He retained the knowledge, the materials, the means, and the
intent to produce weapons of mass destruction. And he could have
passed that knowledge on to our terrorist enemies. Saddam Hussein was
a unique threat, a sworn enemy of our country, a state sponsor of
terror, operating in the world's most volatile region. In a world
after September the 11th, he was a threat we had to confront. And
America and the world are safer for our actions.

The Duelfer report makes clear that much of the accumulated body of
12 years of our intelligence and that of our allies was wrong, and we
must find out why and correct the flaws. The Silberman-Robb commission
is now at work to do just that, and its work is important and
essential. At a time of many threats in the world, the intelligence on
which the President and members of Congress base their decisions must
be better -- and it will be.

I look forward to the Intelligence Reform Commission's
recommendations, and we will act on them to improve our intelligence,
especially our intelligence about weapons of mass destruction.